Great Quotations: Nils Lofgren

The audibles are crazy. He [Springsteen] had me going mad the other night. He kept showing this sign for “Blowin’ In The Wind” over and over again. I said to him, “What key do you do it in?” He said, “We’ve never done it.” Steve [Van Zandt] said to me, “That ain’t gonna happen,” but Bruce kept showing me the sign. Finally, I run over to the tech and said, “Look, if there’s an electric I’m gonna use the Jazzmaster and the bottle neck. If it’s acoustic, I might jump on pedal steel. Have ‘em ready.” And then he gets up the sign and he goes, “You’re thinking of the other guy!” He made a joke out of it. “That’s Bob Dylan!” And here’s me frantically trying to figure out an audible we’ve never done. It’s all good fun, and great inspired, reckless musical moments that come thanks to the centuries of experience we’ve got.